Donald Trump accused of fraud

New York state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman spoke out Monday in defense of the $40 million civil lawsuit his office filed against mogul Donald Trump, who in turn blasted the prosecutor as a "political hack."

Trump also suggested that President Barack Obama could be behind the accusation against him.

The billionaire was one of the main instigators of the claim that Obama was not born in the United States.

The suit, news of which had been leaked to certain media outlets over the weekend, is over the activities of a for-profit educational entity that was originally called Trump University before it renamed itself as The Trump Entrepreneur Initiative.

"Trading on his celebrity status, Mr. Trump personally appeared in advertisements making false promises to convince people to spend tens of thousands of dollars they couldn't afford for lessons they never got," Schneiderman said in a statement.

Between 2005 and 2011, according to the suit, more than 5,000 people all over the United States paid the school a total of $40 million.